We raced through the gardens, pelted by the heavy rain, a surprise that had greeted us shortly after we'd returned to the capital. It was a relentless deluge of water, a torrential downpour in every sense of the phrase. Though it had been mere seconds since its inception, we were both already thoroughly drenched. Despite the awe-inspiring thunder and lightning shows T1 frequently enjoyed, rain itself was quite uncommon in the territory, hence the decades of work behind the water generation and distribution systems we currently had in place.
The king was faster than I, but he was also slightly hampered by the thick, dark mane flowing behind him. Long hair was a constant side effect of the power surge accompanying his shift into full battle god state. My Lord strongly disliked it, complaining that it looked stupid, that it dragged him down, that it was hot, uncomfortable, inconvenient, a pain in his derrière, and so on. He always had it lopped off at the first opportunity.
Practically speaking, the hair never seemed to actually bother the king in the midst of a battle. And it was plain and simple poor luck that we were caught in the downpour before he'd had a chance to shed himself of it. Personally speaking, I felt the mane was quite beautiful and regal on him; like his tattoos, it was a proud display of his noble heritage. His predecessor and ancestral father King Raizen, of course, had also possessed a magnificent white mane.
Whenever I brought any of those points up, the king would make some snide remark, usually something about standing at the top of the main tower of the central administration building during a thunderstorm, or a reference to late 20th century Human World music groups.
We soon reached the gazebo at the heart of the gardens, taking shelter underneath and an opportunity to dry off. I removed my outer robe and, hefting the waterlogged fabric, proceeded to roll it up tightly and wring it out.
Behind me, the king blurted, "Hokushin, check it out. I can do a Puu!"
"Very good, my Lord," I said, not really listening. In hindsight, he had an edge of excitement to his usual spirited voice, the subtle tonal rush indicating he had just thought of something exciting or brilliant (to him). I should have recognized it faster and paid closer attention, but I was absorbed in my own activity.
Approximately one second later, I processed his words and realised what he meant, and spun around. "Wait, don't-"
Of course, it was too late. In a remarkably accurate imitation of his spirit beast's favourite wet-dog maneuver, the king bent forward, arms folded tight against his upper body, and shook himself vigorously. Immediately water sprayed in all directions, splattering the interior of the gazebo and me. At my displeased shout, he quickly stopped.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, willed serenity through every pore of my being. And failed.
"... Your Majesty," I said curtly through clenched teeth, my eyes still closed. "Did it ever occur to you that when Puu shakes the water off, it all has to go elsewhere, such as on yourself, and you are usually quite upset?"
"Sorry," he said.
I counted to ten, slowly, wiped my face with the sleeve of my inner shirt (not that it did much), and finally opened my eyes. The king was tugging contritely at his now rather puffy mane. I was suddenly struck by the ridiculousness of the situation - that one of the most powerful beings in the entire realm, who could very well crush me with less than a finger if he truly wanted to, was standing before me, eyes downcast like a chastised child.
Also, after my initial rage, I had to admit his hair was now quite comical in appearance.
A sharp bird cry pierced the drumming of the rain. We looked up to see the king's spirit beast squawking exuberantly and galloping towards the gazebo to join us. It squeezed itself into the space, which was, fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) large enough to accommodate this.
The king's eyes widened. "Shit, Puu," he yelled, lunging forward, both hands flying out in a frantic gesture that screamed halt in every language. "I already-"
Without fail, his other self repeated its host's earlier actions. Only this time, as the phoenix had apparently been out in the rain much longer, was significantly larger, and had experience surpassing the king's plus his enthusiasm in spades, the net result was much greater. The water unleashed appeared an impossibly massive volume, and the impressive attack seemed to drown out even our indignant howls and shrieks.
When it was over, the gazebo was, for lack of a better word, ruined. I was triply soaked, the robe in my hands a sopping lump of wetness. The king, who had been closer at the moment of impact, was dripping from head to toe, his hair wholly drenched and plastering his face like a matted veil of fur.
The three of us stood there in silence. The only sound was the water dripping away, combined with the constant background drilling of the rain against the ground around us, beyond the boundaries of the gazebo.
Slowly, the king lifted both hands and carefully parted his hair in the centre like a curtain, peeking out. His line of sight was directed at some faraway, imperceptible horizon, his face completely devoid of emotion.
My gaze turned from my Lord to his spirit beast, who stared back at both of us with pure innocence in its eyes.
Surprisingly, despite the physical mess and discomfort, I felt utter inner peace and detachment, a zen-like calm radiating from within. From the expression I had seen on the king's face, I thought he must be experiencing something similar.
I gave the rare, very likely fleeting feeling and/or delusional shock a few moments before I spoke.
"... I am guessing you thought it was fun and you really wanted to do it again," I said.
"... Yeah," said the king, guilt and acceptance both heavy in his voice.
My shoulders began to shake, and not from the cold dampness. I started to chuckle. It quickly grew into a chortle, and then into full-bore guffaws. A lopsided smile cracked on the king's face as well, and he soon joined me. Next to us, the spirit beast chirped and crowed delightedly.
"-So how come when I do it, you get all pissy," the king said, laughing, "but when Puu does it-"
"Some days," I replied, finally managing to find my breath, "You just have to know when to give up in the face of a force greater than your own."
Author's notes: Did you know a dog can shake off 70% of the water on its body in four seconds? And that the smaller a creature is, the faster it needs to shake?* So Raizen would need to shake at 1.25x the speed Puu does, and Yusuke needs to shake at 1.75x the speed of Puu.** Science!
In general I find these are really amusing to write as Hokushin first person. Throughout the stories, Hokushin pretty consistently uses "My Lord" to address Yusuke. (In my doodles, which are pretty much silly gags where something - i.e., Yusuke - is going hilariously wrong, he usually uses Your Majesty.) I think it'd be funny if he only uses "Your Majesty" when he's upset at the king, kind of like how parents use their child's full name and then the kid's like "oh crap, I'm in trouble now".
* This is science. Go to YouTube and look up "Slow-motion mammals shaking themselves dry" or search with this quick code for nature video: AFzWJ6P2iyY
** This is not science. I am just making crap up.